Moore: Cowboys enter Redskin's game with a scrap of positive news: a win streak

IRVING — As the Cowboys wander somewhere between hope and despair, they do enter Thursday’s game with a scrap of positive news.

For the first time this season, for the first time since last Thanksgiving, the Cowboys have won at least two consecutive games.

It won’t mean much if they are unable to push it to three.

That happens when you fall two games below .500 as the Cowboys did earlier this month. Every game falls into the essential category until further notice.

What is at stake when Washington and a quarterback known only by his initials roll into Cowboys Stadium to celebrate Thanksgiving? A win would push the Cowboys to 6-5 and drop the Redskins farther down in the standings. If Green Bay is able to beat the New York Giants three days later, the Cowboys would find themselves in a tie with the Giants at the top of the NFC East.

A loss would leave the Cowboys below .500 again and tied with Washington in the division.

Now, back to this win streak. It represents progress, no matter how modest, no matter how bad the Cowboys looked for much of the afternoon against Cleveland.

Right?

“I don’t attach much significance to that because we do live in the now and what happened [Sunday] is really irrelevant to what’s going to happen today and going forward,” coach Jason Garrett said.

“It certainly is better to win than to lose in this league. There’s no question about that. We all understand that. We strive to do that every week … but our attention is on Washington right now. This game will be here before you know it.”

It could be here before several key players are healthy enough to contribute.

Eight players did not practice Monday for the Cowboys. Four of them — running back DeMarco Murray, left tackle Tyron Smith, nose tackle Jay Ratliff and center Ryan Cook — are starters.

Stephen Jones, the team’s executive vice president, said it’s a long shot that either Murray or Smith will be ready. That’s a downside to two games in five days.

“I’m concerned,” owner Jerry Jones said in the aftermath of his team’s 23-20 overtime victory. “We emptied a lot here to win this ball game. This is the negative part of playing on Thanksgiving Day.”

Quarterback Tony Romo endured a career-high seven sacks against the Browns. The running game again plodded along — the Cowboys have averaged just 66.6 yards on the ground in the five games Murray has been out — behind a patchwork offensive line.

But here is a positive that is easy to overlook. The Cowboys outscored the Browns 17-7 in the fourth quarter and came from behind twice to force overtime.

The Cowboys have outscored Philadelphia and Cleveland in the fourth quarter by a total of 38-13 during this two-game winning streak. Even though Garrett lives in the now, he does acknowledge that helps build confidence late in games.

“Absolutely,” Garrett said. “It’s a really important thing, and the best teams in this league are able to do that.

“You don’t always play your best for 60 minutes every game. Look at [Sunday]. Look all around the league. The nature of this league is you’re going to get challenged by opponents, and you’ve got to somehow find a way to win. The best teams are able to do that.

“We overcame a lot of different things in that ball game to give us a chance to win, and ultimately we were able to do the things we needed to do to win. And that’s a good thing for our football team.”

Cornerback Brandon Carr observed that time is ticking. He believes this two-game winning streak eases the mood a bit at Valley Ranch and finally gives the team something to build on.

He also knows the Cowboys have dug a deep enough hole that they don’t have the luxury of losing this game if they want to remain relevant.

“I’m not going to breathe easy until I know that we took care of business the way we are supposed to,” Carr said. “I’m not looking ahead. I’m focused on the game at hand.